i was trend hunting when i read this article at The Observer, so i brought it in for discussion and opinions..
so, whould you wear those or not?
i'm afraid i'm not redy to enter the modern corset trend myself..
opinions?
The riddle of the Spanx
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]They're the massive, ungainly pants that make celebs feel a million dollars. Rachel Cooke tries them out[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Sunday March 26, 2006
The Observer
[/FONT]On Monday night I had to attend a smart dinner at the Dorchester hotel in Park Lane. Very exciting. I wore a brown silk dress by Ann Louise Roswald with matching fishnet tights and, beneath the whole ensemble, a tight pair of Spanx. Yes, Spanx, which are knickers by any other name. No one knew about the Spanx, obviously, until, tipsy and breathless, I unaccountably decided to tell my female colleagues about them. I even gave them a spirited flash. 'Oh my God,' they squealed, almost to a woman. 'Let's see that again.' Their reactions ranged from disbelief to fascination to - am I just imagining it? - envy. You see, when you're wearing Spanx, you're never lost for sisterly conversation.
The whole Spanx thing started for me when I set about finding a dress in which to get married. The woman I chose to make this dress said: 'Now, I want you to go to Rigby & Peller and buy some Spanx.' What on earth are Spanx? 'They're big pants. They start here [she pointed just above her knees] and they end here [she pointed just below her breasts], and they're great.' Gulp. They didn't sound great to me. But later I mentioned them to my sister, the usual sceptical look on my face. 'Oh, I've got some,' she said. 'They're really good. All the Hollywood stars wear them. They make you look so smooth.' She took a sip of wine. 'The only thing is ... ' She wrinkled her nose. 'They're crotchless, so you can pee.'
Anyway, I dutifully bought my Spanx - from John Lewis - and, in the privacy of my home, rolled them on. This took, oh, only about 20 minutes. Job done, I'll admit that I looked not unlike Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. The physical effect, however, was remarkable, especially once I had covered them up with clothes: no bumps, no lumps, no VPL. And I thought Gwyneth Paltrow and her ilk relied on Photoshop to smooth their bottoms in the glossies. OK, so sitting down felt a bit weird. But you can't have everything. Besides, who needs to sit down when you can cruise the room in a swan-like state of immaculate smoothness? Not me! Spanx were invented in America by a woman called Sara Blakely. She put up $5,000 of her own money to get a prototype manufactured, and sold her first pair to Neiman Marcus by modelling them herself for the store's buyer. They have since graced the pages of American Vogue. Some items in the Spanx range are for slimming, some for smoothing. Some - like the catsuit affair that covers everything but your feet - are probably best for inducing gangrene (only joking, Sara). But they do work, and their packaging has a certain witty honesty. 'Slim Cognito,' it'll say. Or: 'All of the lean, none of the mean.' They are not, however, pants in which to date - or, as I learned in the loos at the Dorchester, pants in which to rush. On Monday I was eager to spend as much time as possible drinking champagne. My pants, on the other hand, had other ideas, holding me temporary prisoner in my cubicle, my ankles bound together as if by steel cuffs.
so, whould you wear those or not?
i'm afraid i'm not redy to enter the modern corset trend myself..
opinions?
...
Oh, the thought alone...and if you eat too much, how do you take it off?
